Is Labour using NHS as a ‘political football’ with attacks on health service chiefs?

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has been accused of ‘undermining trust’ in the NHS with his constant criticism. Adam Forrest takes a look at whether Labour’s reform plan justifies the assault

With the backing of Keir Starmer, the shadow health secretary has promised a ‘tough love’ approach to running the NHS (PA)

Labour’s Wes Streeting has found a new way to attack NHS bosses. The shadow health secretary flew abroad to visit Singapore General – widely regarded as one of the best hospitals in the world.

The leading frontbencher was seriously impressed by the standard of healthcare on the southeast Asian island, leaving him even more unimpressed with the current state of Britain’s health service.

Streeting doubled down on his critique of NHS managers – lambasting their “waste and inefficiency” and accusing them of using winter crises as “an excuse to ask for more money”.

With the blessing of Keir Starmer, the senior figure has vowed to “shake the NHS and the public out of complacency” – promising a “tough love” approach that will demand reform without providing any extra cash.

Leading NHS campaigner Dr Rachel Clarke was among those unhappy at Streeting’s comments, accusing him of “deliberately undermining public trust in the NHS”.

She said his claim that the NHS was “using” crises to ask for cash amounted to a “massive kick in the guts” for health service staff – arguing that he was using their problems as a “political football”.

Junior doctors campaigner Dr Julia Patterson agreed, saying it was “ludicrous to suggest the NHS itself is to blame for systemic problems” after it has been “crippled by underfunding”.

And the left-wing group Momentum added: “The NHS needs more cash and everyone knows it. [Peddling] right-wing talking points doesn’t change the facts.”

Labour leader Keir Starmer and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting (PA)

Streeting seems to relish creating this sort of row, appearing all too willing to start spats with NHS groups, campaigners and unions in a bid to be seen as a radical reformer.

But does he have the ideas to back it up? What exactly are Labour’s plans to shake up the NHS, if the party is not going to fall back on the “big government chequebook” if it wins power next year?

Streeting appears to have picked up a few things on his trip to Singapore. The shadow health secretary said NHS patients should get more power to swap GPs using the NHS app.

The senior Labour MP said he wanted to see something like Singapore’s health app – which lets patients link up hospital and GP services more effectively as well as allowing them to access their own medical records.

He also said Labour would bring back a family doctor system. The Labour frontbencher also suggested he would be “happy” to listen to GPs about dropping some of the government’s targets in a bid to free up their time to spend with patients.

But reforming the tech capabilities of the health service will not happen without funding. The party used its autumn conference to pledge to double the number of NHS scanners to diagnose patients earlier, as part of a £1.6bn plan.

More broadly, and perhaps more importantly, Labour committed to paying doctors and nurses more in overtime to carry out more procedures, such as scans and operations, at the weekend in a bid to bring down record waiting lists.

Streeting has also promised that a Labour government would prioritise services in the community, and mental health services – with an ambition to integrate GP services and hospitals through a “neighbourhood health service”.

Bringing in such reforms will cost money. But Labour appears to want to be seen as miserly. The opposition party has to be upfront with voters and admit that the public finances will not allow a Starmer administration to turn on the spending taps like chancellor Gordon Brown did when the party last held power.

Despite fears that its MPs are helping to undermine trust in the NHS, it also remains in Labour’s interest to talk down the current state of the health service as terminal, in a bid to be seen as its saviour.

Does the party’s “reforming” stance go beyond pre-election politics? Some on the left – suspicious of Streeting and his adoration of Tony Blair – fear that the shadow health secretary has an ideological inclination to privatise more NHS services.

Streeting has previously said he would “hold the door wide open” to private sector entrepreneurs if they are able to improve the NHS.

It remains to be seen whether Streeting’s insistence that he cannot “pour” money into a health service is merely rhetorical. Or whether the future health secretary really believes he can transform the NHS without extra spending.